And Then There Was One
by Nihlism
Summary: A lack of trust towards Dumbledore leaves Harry to make his own choices in the war on Voldemort. Striking out at the end of his 5th year, Harry and a couple unexpected companions go in search of horcruxes, find love and ultimately try to save the world from a demented dark overlord. Harry/George -only slash pairing-, Charlie/OC, Luna/Draco. AU of course.
1. Prologue

**Title:** And Then There Was One

**Rating:** T (or PG-13 whichever you prefer to follow). Rated for language and certain content.

**Warnings:** Slash (Boys/Boys) and Bad writing (:

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story that you recognize, those are all the property of J.K. Rowling. (: So please no suing! Storyline and all original characters are mine. (:

And Then There Was One

_Prologue_

"We are not simply dealing with one horcrux, my boy. I have good reason to believe there are several more than that." The old man watched the younger silently, awaiting any hint of reaction. Thus far, the boy had given him nothing to show he was even alive aside from the steady sound of his breathing. Again, he pressed on without a response. "I've managed to recover an additional horcrux from the remains of the Gaunt family home." Here, he pulled open a drawer which held the remains of a diary that had been run through with the basilisk fang and a very small silver ring.

The sight of the diary seemed to awaken the boy and he whispered his first question of the night. "How do you intend to destroy that ring?" Startled, the older man dropped the ring to the floor, causing it to roll a few yards away. The young man leaned down and deftly scooped it up, stating his question once more with a piercing stare. "You don't happen to have any basilisks handy since you had the chamber destroyed, do you? Or perhaps some extra venom lying about? No, I imagine not. So, I ask again.. how do you intend to destroy this ring?"

A tense silence settled between the two men as they each gathered their thoughts. "I will destroy it using any means necessary and that is all you need worry about with that. You _must_ help me find-" but the older man never got a chance to finish his plea as the younger had slammed the ring onto the oak desk before him and purposefully stomped out of the office, leaving a fine cloud of dust hovering over the small stack of books that had the misfortune of being in his path.

Neither of the men noticed the small figure hunched on the balcony, beady eyes trained on the elderly man who had just watched his best pawn walk off the game board. It would be this small shadow, lurking just beyond the reach of the light, that would make the last move in the old mans game.


	2. Trouble Brewing

**Title:** And Then There Was One

**Rating:** T (or PG-13 whichever you prefer to follow). Rated for language and certain content.

**Warnings:** Slash (Boys/Boys) and Bad writing (;

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story that you recognize, those are all the property of J.K. Rowling. (: So please no suing! Storyline and all original characters are mine. (:

And Then There Was One

_Chapter One_

_Three weeks earlier..._

Sitting beneath the shade of the old willow tree beside the lake, Harry pulled out the small note from George and re-read it for the twentieth time as he waited for him to arrive. The slightly messy scrawl that was George's handwriting always seemed to comfort Harry, giving him that feeling you get when you have just read a really great story. But this time, along with that comfort, George's words brought worry and confusion. _Meet me beneath the willow tree at 2pm. There is something I desperately need you to know, so don't keep me waiting. _Of course, upon reading the note, Harry managed to get himself planted beneath the willow tree an impressive 27 minutes early; impressive because Harry would probably be late to his own funeral if it were left up to him. So now that promptness would not be an issue, he had nothing but time to spend over-thinking and worrying about what information was so important.

He had been with George for 2 years now, and they had a pretty good thing going as far as Harry was concerned. When they fought, they resolved them almost as soon as they happened because George didn't believe in letting either of them go to bed angry or upset. So a breakup couldn't possibly be in the future, at least not this soon. Nobody had a birthday coming up, so they hadn't forgotten a gift or party. As far as he'd heard, nobody they knew had been attacked, so there would be no deaths or disappearances to report. And the last thing it could be, would be somebody they knew getting married. But that wasn't happening until after graduation for any of their friends or family members, plus they already knew about those.

With a sigh of irritation, Harry growled to himself. "What in the world could be so important?" The sound of a response caused him to jump up in alarm and draw his wand. It was while his wand was centered dead on George's nose, that the words finally registered in his brain. "I'm leaving, Harry." A moment later, his thoughts exploded in every which direction. _He's leaving. I've messed up. I've lost my George. Oh gods, how could this happen? Where did we go wrong? Why is he going? Did he meet someone new? If he leaves, that means he doesn't love me anymore.._

A gentle shake brought Harry away from his thoughts and back to the world of consciousness. George was giving him a rather concerned look as he lightly gripped his hand. "Harry, I can see that look in your eye. We've talked about this, many times. If you start thinking the worst without asking questions, I can't help you get past it. Talk to me." Harry took a deep breath to steady himself and thought for a moment about which question to ask first. "Are you leaving me?" He chewed roughly on the inside of his cheek to keep his eyes from welling up with tears as the thought of losing George washed over him once more. His answer was a bone-crushing hug and the gentlest kiss behind his ear, George's way of saying, 'You're an idiot, but I love you.' Harry knew this, because he had been the recipient of such actions more times than he could count. George said it was his way of causing the pain of a punch without the damage, because sometimes you just want to hit someone for the things they say. With a sigh of relief, Harry ventured on. "Well, then why are you leaving? Where are you going?"

George released him and pulled him down to sit, carefully choosing his words. He knew this was going to be an unpleasant battle and he wasn't sure he was ready for it. Unfortunately, time was ticking and Harry needed to know. "Fred and I are leaving Hogwarts tonight. We decided last night that it was time to show Umbridge that we're not afraid of her, and we're giving her a proper farewell. But we won't be returning because she'd have us expelled anyway." He knew as soon as Harry opened his mouth, what would come next. "Well, why can't I go with you?" He had such a hopeful expression and it pained George to have to crush it. "Harry, you're only just on your way to 16. You've got a full year until you are of age, which means that if you were to come with us, there would be nothing you could do. We're going to take this opportunity to get our shop up and running and that's going to require dedicated time and the ability to do magic outside of Hogwarts. But this doesn't mean we won't see each other. We are going to have a shop open in Hogsmeade and you can come see me as often as you'd like." Harry's face had shifted, though not in the way George had expected. Instead of crestfallen, Harry appeared to understand.. which worried George greatly. That could only mean that the younger boy was planning something that nobody was going to like. Only time would tell, however, because once Harry started forming a plan in his mind, he didn't let a single person in on it until their time had come.

About an hour and a promise to visit later, George excused himself to go finalize the planning for their extravagant exit later in the evening. He refused to tell Harry when everything was going to happen, quieting him with the promise that there would be something in the show that was just for him. So it was with a rather heavy heart that Harry made his way back up towards the castle. In fact, he was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost missed the eyes watching him from a third story window. The figure quickly disappeared when it was spotted, but nobody could mistake that shock of blonde hair before it vanished. _Malfoy. If he's up to something, he better well leave me out of it._ Taking a moment to continue staring up at the spot where the blonde boy was hiding, Harry finally shrugged it off and trudged back up to the common room. Dinner would be happening soon and he had a fairly strong feeling that it was going to be quite eventful tonight.

The two hours before dinner flew by in a haze with Harry spending it reading _For The Seasoned Potion Master: Remedies and Causing Them To Be Needed_, a rather morbid instructional book that he had received from a certain potion master for his birthday. Though, Severus Snape would never admit to sending the boy a birthday gift. In fact, the very arrival of the package worried Harry so much that he spent a solid four hours doing every counter-curse, scanning and secrecy spell he could think of. Hermione gave it an additional seven hours in her personal library before they deemed it safe to read. However off-putting the title may be, Harry could not even begin to thank the man for all it had been teaching him. Not only did it teach defensive and healing potions, but also offensive ones. Because everybody knows you can't be such an integral part of a war without knowing how to fight and defend in as many ways as possible. As he set the book back into its hiding place in his trunk, Harry felt a tinge of worry. He knew that Fred and George would do something stupid, that couldn't be avoided, but he hoped with every fiber of his being that they didn't upset the wrong people. Dolores Umbridge would be one of those people and he willed them to know how badly things could go with her involved. Brought back to the present by a yell from Ron (_"Oi, I'm bloody starving down here!"_), Harry trotted downstairs and trailed his two best friends to what he felt was the disaster awaiting him in the Great Hall.

The scene that greeted him beyond the double doors was absolutely and completely.. uneventful. It appeared that the time for Weasley hijinks was not now, which both relieved and worried Harry. He had been hoping that he could just get the shock over with right away instead of having to wait for a surprise to pop out at him. He did notice that Fred and George appeared to be deep in conversation at the table, not even noticing when the trio sat down nearby, until Ron began scarfing down food so quickly that he began to choke. With Hermione screaming at him for being such a careless animal, several housemates staring at him in disbelief and Harry trying to dive across the table to help him out, Ron had made quite a spectacle of himself. Fred, noticing that his baby brother was beginning to turn blue, reached over and gave him a full-force, open palm slap on the back. If the sound alone didn't tell people how badly it hurt, the string of rather colorful insults and swears coming from the smaller redhead certainly put it into perspective. It only took a few minutes for the students to go back to their conversations, the show at Gryffindor table now over. And just when Harry was starting to slowly dig into his dinner, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. _What was that?_ A quick flash, almost too quick to catch like the glint of the sunlight on a golden Snitch, caught his eye once more. He still couldn't place where it was coming from when he heard a low rumble. _Strange. Was that thunder? _He glanced around, but nobody else had noticed the flash or the sound. He heard it again, this time slightly louder. Another glance told him that Luna had heard that one as she too was looking around for the source, though she could have been looking for any number of mythical creatures that only her bloodline knew existed. Several moments passed without another sound and he picked up his fork to take another bite. And that's when it struck.


End file.
